By Chance | Book One |

Chapter Twenty Five

River

"River?" I heard my mom call my name as soon as I closed the front door.

"Yeah, Mom?" I asked, walking into the kitchen. Her and my father had a bottle of wine open on the counter with two wine glasses. They were also making some sort of pasta together.

My mom gave me a smile. "Hi, Baby. How was school?"

"It was good. How are you guys?"

"We're good." My dad said and slid me over a plate of pasta. "We made your favourite earlier."

I couldn't hide my smile. "Thanks."

"Are you meeting up with your friends later?

"No. I'm going to down to the gym then for a drive." I stabbed the pasta with my fork before taking a bite. God, it was fucking delicious. My parents made the best homemade pasta.

"Do you have time to talk?" I put down my fork and stared at my father.

"Don't get mad, River. Okay. We just want to talk." My moms voice said gently. "The last thing we want is you to be upset you."

"What's going on?"

I didn't like the vibe I was getting from them, they were acting all serious instead of they're usual easy going attitudes.

"We want to talk about Christmas."

"There's nothing to discuss about Christmas. We're having Christmas here like always," I reminded them.

"Mel invited us to go away with them for Christmas. Sasha and her parents are going, they're inviting your friend Lyra too." My mom reached over and touched my hand. Hurt passed over her face when I pulled my hand away from her.

"And you told her no. End of story." I crossed my arms.

They looked at each other before my father said, "We told her we'd go. We aren't spending Christmas here."

I felt my face pale, before my anger boiled inside of me.

They couldn't be fucking serious? We had to spend Christmas here. It wouldn't be right, and they knew that. They knew that.

"Funny." Was all I was able to say.

"We're serious. We're going away for Christmas. And you're coming with us."

"We have to stay here. It's only right."

"We know it's hard on you, but we just want you to be with your friends and family. A trip would be amazing. Seniors get done exams early so we get to leave earlier, it's the perfect time to go."

"I thought you two would be more understanding." I got up and went up to my room as my mom called after me.

This was bull shit, we didn't need to go anywhere else. This was where we needed to be.

I slammed my door after getting upstairs and I started packing my gym bag. I'd rather go to the gym at school than use ours right now. This was one thing I wasn't going to change my mind about.

I shoved a pair of black shorts and a black shirt in my bag along with a towel. There was a soft knock on my door before it opened and closed.

It surprised me when it was my father that had come up here, not my mother.

"River, please don't be upset with your mom and I. We know you're still struggling with everything. But we think going away this Christmas would be best. We want our kids to have fun together before everyone graduates. We're renting a massive place in the mountains, you guys can ski and snowboard."